i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios good morning. a new start today. brand new congress swearing in at noon. of course there was no love loss for the 112th congress and very

little was accomplished. will anything change for the 113th? republicans still have the majority in the house, democrats are in power in the senate. the agenda still has a lot of unfinished business, gun control, immigration, sequester, debt limit, farm bill, hurricane sandy relief, filibuster, violence against women act and all of problems they just didn't solve last time. after the partisan wrangling that characterized the last congress, there might be good news because, well, expectations are low. it was the least productive and with approval ratings as low as 12%, is there anyplace to go but up? let me bring in our guests. good morning. >> good morning. >> happy 113th to both of you.

as far as wrable up old busin s as far as wrapping up the old business, the president is gearing up for the next fight, the debt ceiling. let me play what pat toomey said to you about it. >> the president is clear. he doesn't want to have a discussion about it. he knows this is where we have leverage. we republicans need to be willing to tolerate a temporary partial government shutdown, which is what that could mean, and insist that we get off the road to greece. >> i don't know if i call that a positive sign, nia. what do you make of that? >> it certainly isn't a positive sign but it's certainly a sign of where the republicans are right now. you heard lindsay graham even before the ink was dry on the fiscal cliff deal saying keep your powder dry on that deal and rev for the debt ceiling negotiations. they're going in claiming they have a mandate. the problem is we're going to

see another big dust-up, the brinksmanship that we saw from the miss fiscal cliff deal and boehner saying he won't have any one-on-one meetings with president obama and president obama saying he won't have any meetings either. i think we're in for another big showdown. >> the republicans are saying revenue is done, no more talk about taxes and now it's just spending cuts. let me play what grover norquist said to to andrea mitchell yesterday. >> the one piece of clout that he had was this threat to raise taxes on everyone and the republicans gave him some of what he wanted and couldn't take everything back off the table in terms of protecting taxpayers. but that's gone. >> jackie, has the president lost his leverage now? >> i don't know about that. i think it's a good thing that biden and mcconnell are still around when you hear that. >> somebody will talk. >> somebody will talk. i think like nia said, there's going to be standoff on this and

it going to come right to the edge. but, you know, like the last debt ceiling debate, for a lot of these members of congress, there's nothing scarier than defaulting. so i think when push comes to shove, when you look at wall street and all the things that could happen, if that happens, i think that we'll go downtown line, it will be a lot of drama but something will get done. >> one thing that both sides agree on is to blame the other side. the reason i can't talk to them is because you can't talk to them. robert gibbs this morning was insisting that the president is trying to work with congress to get things done. listen to him. >> certainly he has worked tirelessly to bring democrats and republicans together to try to solve some of these problems and i think you have seen and others have seen that time after time it is hard to bring people like speaker boehner to the table to make those compromises. >> on both sides they had to bring in biden and mcconnell. obviously, nia, he blames the speaker. what blame or lack of blame is

there for president obama? >> it's interesting. out of all of these fights, it's republicans who seem to in terms of the public, the public seems to blame republicans more for some of these standoffs and i think it's probably because republicans don't necessarily have a real leader that's the stature of president obama. and i think also obama has been very smart to go to the american public campaign style and have probably better messaging around this. you already see him talking about the debt ceiling and saying congress can't default on the bills and skip outin t ion bills for things they've already spent and already authorized. so i imagine he'll do that again, go to the american public and i think you'll hear from boehner there he goes again, there obama goes again campaigning but it's been so effective that i think he'll go to that again. and i think jackie's right. i mean, the leverage here that obama has against default is huge. i mean, the leverage is if republicans don't budge, the entire global economy is at

stake. so this idea i think that republicans somehow have more leverage than the president isn't quite right. >> but the thing, as you point out, jackie, is that they're not going to budge. speaker bain aoehner says he's going to negotiate one-on-one with the president. what's that strategy about? >> as we've seen, speaker boehner has had a pretty rough week for lots of reasons. he doesn't have -- right now it's really complicated inside that conference. it reminds me of when the democrats were in charge. it was like herding cats and it's kind of become like that. i mean, you have a lot of factions where republicans used to be extremely disciplined, all volt one way, that doesn't exist anymore. he's dealing with a lot of factions in his conference who aren't particularly fans of the president. >> i want to bring in congressman tom cole. good to see you this morning. >> good to see you. >> so this got through, which is something you wanted to see.

now you have speaker boehner saying i'm not going to be talking one-on-one with the president anymore. how do we move forward with all these big issues if the speaker and the president won't talk? >> we should do what we do around here, regular order. the pass should pass legislation, particularly on financial and budgetary issues and the senate should pick it up and actually act on it. we did last year have legislation on the fiscal live ov -- cliff over there in may. clearly these big one-on-one negotiations haven't served anybody's purposes well. they seem to have poisoned the water. not much gets done in them. >> why can't the speaker and the president talk to each other when there was success between mcconnell and biden? >> well, i think, number one, they don't have the history that the vice president and the republican leader have, who served together in the same body. and, number two, honestly where the president's concerned, he's not done a lot of this. he wasn't in the senate very long, he wasn't a legislative

leader in illinois. he hasn't been a governor like bill clinton was. he's got many, many talents, negotiation and the legislative process honestly is not one of them. he hasn't shown that in four years. i certainly didn't see much evidence of it over the last month and unfortunately in the next 90 days he's got three big events in front of him. he's got the sequester, he's got the continuing resolution and obviously the debt ceiling. i hope he doesn't misread what just happened and overplay his hand. >> well, part of the problem that a lot of people see is the one thing that did get done with the fiscal cliff in the narrowness of the decision that was made, the bill that was eventually auto pen signed is that it leaves these much bigger issue. and john boehner couldn't even get a majority of his caucus to vote for this one. i guess today as we're looking forward to that vote at noon, are you surprised or why do you think he hasn't been challenged? >> well, because i think he's very strong within the conference and i think people recognize, you know, exactly

what difficult terrain we were on during the revenue fight. all the taxes ended at the end of the year. that was the president's leverage. i actually agree with grover norquist on this. that particular leverage is gone and is not going to be reemerging any time soon. and i think also there are a lot more votes for that deal if we needed them. once you had 170 democrats, why would you need a huge number of republicans? there were plenty of people saying if you need me, i'll be there. frankly, if you have don't, i won't. and that's fair enough. both sides do that on a tough vote. so i think the speaker remains very strong in the conference, i think you'll see that today. and honestly we're now going to fight going forward on terrain that unifies republicans that, is cutting spending and reforming entitlements as opposed to things that divide us. >> more than a few pundits have argued on both sides of the aisle that they agree with you that the speaker is very strong within his conference and yet the fact remains this was the least effective congress that

we've seen since record were kept. so what good does it do if you're okay within your conference but you're not getting anything done? >> well, let me give you another take. this idea that you measure accomplishment by the number of bills passed, i think you have to remember how many of those in previous congresses were post offices being named. >> 40 such bills in this one. >> well, let me focus on what did get done. there was a budget deal in april of 2011 that cut discretionary spending. the debt ceiling deal it was was a gigantic deal. >> one of the most painful in history and one that will be repeated. >> it probably will be repeated. you're not going to get a debt ceiling through unless -- >> are we going to get our credit downgraded again? >> that may have been a triggering event but what downgrades your credit are $ four trillion dollar deficits in

a row and no credible plan to get spending under control. this administration hasn't presented one, the senate hasn't done a budget in three years the only real spending cut occurred around that budget negotiation. there's other triggering events. there's sequester and the continuing resolution. at the end of the day if democrats think there's going to be revenue every time -- the revenue issue just got settled. permanent tax rates. they're not coming up again. they got their piece of the pie all at once. they ate dessert first. now it's going to be spinach for the next 90 days and that's going to be spending cuts and entitlement reforms. >> congressman tom cole, good of you to comon the program again. thank you so much. nia and jackie, he is not backing away and he's not suggesting this is going to be anything but brutal. gun control, immigration and that is not even to mention the sequester and the debt limit,

the farm bill, the filibuster, the violence against women act. give us a sense, jackie, of sort of where we stand on any or all of this and is each and every one going to be a bruising fight? >> well, i think a couple of those, things like gun control and immigration, you know, it going to depend on what the bill is. the president really wanted health care, too, and -- but is the bill that passed the one that he wanted to begin with? no, it wasn't, definitely not. that's going to depend on what comes down the pike and what the president gets behind. i think the violence against women act has a chance here. because of some of the dynamics of the 113th congress. it's the most divorce congress ever, mostly on the democratic side. republicans have said they're amenable to the senate version of the bill, which they haven't been in the past. that has a chance to get through this congress. >> nia, what do you see that

could get done? >> i think jackie is right. i think one of the things we have to keep in mind is anything can happen, with these domestic bills that, awful shooting in sandy hook was out of the blue and really revved up conversations around gun control. >> conversation is one thing, action's another thing. >> that's right. i think that's right. and i think we have to see over these next weeks and months whether or not action actually happens. as i said, you did have senators, for instance, democratic senators at least coming out and saying let's at least look at that and think about an assault weapons ban and magazine clip and things like that. i think jackie is exactly right that this congress is the most diver diverse, 20 women, white men are the minority in the house. republicans are looking at what happened in 2012 and looking at the way they performed and poorly among latino. i think with that, immigration

is going to be a real playground, not only for republicans but also you hear from obama that he's going to reach out to republicans. so i think that is certainly an issue to watch and it going to be a priority i think for both parties. >> thanks to both of you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> secretary of state hillary clinton is back home this morning after spending four days in the hospital being treated for a blood clot. when mrs. clinton left new york presbyterian last night it was the first time she'd been seen publicly since december 7th. the state department says doctors are confident she will fully recover. she said she's anxious to get back to the office. she's being treated with blood thinners. can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

after a huge and angry backlash from members of both parties, house speaker john boehner has scheduled a vote friday for an aid pack and for

the victims of superstorm sandy. this erupted tuesday night. the anger i'm telling you about, it was palpable. >> it's inexcusable, and i am here tonight saying to myself for the first time that i'm not proud of the decision my team has made. >> to ignore the plight of millions of american citizens, unprecedented, disgusting, unworthy of the leadership of this house. >> last night the house of representatives failed that most basic test of public service and they did so with callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state. >> join me is the mayor of raspberry park, new jersey and christine lewis, whose home was virtually destroyed by superstorm sandy. it's good of you to come in. >> thank you. good morning.

>> governor christie pointed out yesterday it was 67 days since hurricane sandy hit. by comparison it took congress ten days after hurricane katrina to get aid, 12 days after ike. what's going on here? >> it's hard to say. this was one of the most horrible acts of public service that i've ever witnessed in my career. not only was it disrespectful to the people of the jersey shore or the entire east coast, who were just suffering and need this help, but it actually was one of the greatest lapse of leadership that i think we've seen in the united states ever. >> you know, it's a normal thing when a tragedy occurs for americans to move on and sometimes we do forget in a case like this that there are people still out there who are suffering. so christine, let me ask you. this hurricane left your home pretty much uninhabitable. we have some pictures taken in your neighborhood just last week. tell me what these last 67 days have been like for you. >> it's been absolutely terrible. we've been out of the house now for over two months. everyone in our community has

just been devastated by this and there seems to be no end in sight. we're not really getting any real answers from fema. it's very unpredictable when we call. seems like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and these are our homes, these are our lives. >> i was shocked that someone i know and who came on the program over the weekend said that he had to move seven times since he was displaced from his home. where are you living? what is your day-to-day life like? >> well, we are very lucky that we're living with -- between two daughters right now that have taken us in, but it's not a permanent situation obviously and it could be months yet until we're back. and fema has offered assistance with a motel room, but the picture that you just saw on the monitor was of our home and when the inspector game to see whether or not we needed disaster assistance, they determined that we needed $91.52 to make our home habitable again and safe. so it was almost a laugh.

>> mayor johnson, let me just put out that that's unbelievable, the timeline for the aid. tomorrow's vote will be on $9 billion for national flood insurance, secretary vote january 15th for the remaining $51 billion in the package. tell us what your community needs. tell us why this money is important because there have been some in congress, a few, who have suggested that the need isn't as great as has been suggested. >> well, first let me say they don't know what they're talking about. they need to come and visit the jersey shore and visit long island and visit the affected areas. as a minimum, asbury park, which was hit but not as bad as other communities, the taxpayers of asbury park are already laying out close to $10 million and that's just for starters. for clean-up, for boardwalk repair, for other structural repairs around town from the effects of sandy. this, first of all, the the not bringing it up for a vote was horrible.

secondly, split it into two votes. let me put it in jersey shore terms. you're out in the water and you need assistance and the lifeguard wades halfway out and they say we're going to come out halfway to you on friday. then we'll come out maybe sometime next week and actually save you. and i just think that that is really a horrible approach. and i think these leaders need to get their act together. we've heard some people call this a comprehensive package for sandy relief. we've heard some people call this a controversial package. but whatever you call it, this congress needs to call themselves together and get to work and help the american people that are in need. >> christine, what went through your mind or what did you say, if i may ask, when you heard that they weren't going to vote on this? >> i was pretty devastated. because i think that they don't understand what's going on down there. they don't understand how everybody's life has been totally turned around, we haven't been back in our homes in over two months and there's

no timeline for when we're going to get back. it's almost as if they've forgotten about what happened two months ago. >> christine lewis, we do wish you the best and, mayor johnson, well said. and good luck to all the folks in the beautiful town of asbury park. thank you both for coming in. >> thank you. >> the 113th congress is the most diverse congress ever with a lot of firsts. for the first time white men are the minority among house democrats the congressional black caucus added five new members, hispa c hispanics added nine new members, there is a record number of women, 20 in the senate, 81 in the house, six members in the news house are openly gay, the seventh in the first bisexual member and the house will have its first hindu member, the senate will have its first buddhist. that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior,

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to politics now where in just two and a half hours, the 113th congress will be sworn in. this morning at 8:15, house

members filed into st. peter's church for a prayer service to start the day. at 9:00, we had the ceremonial swearing in for members of the congressional black caucus and we're specking to see senator mark kirk return to the senate for the fisrst time since he suffered a stroke. he has spent ten months learning to walk again and he's expected to walk through the doors today. >> political has been having some fun in congress. most likely to succeed,. teacher's pet goes to politico selecting tammy duck woerworth n the republican side, ann wagner. she was chair of the rnc under george w. bush and most

experienced, rick nolan and matt salmon have done stints in congress before. and former senator scott brown is already slamming congressman ed markey. technically they aren't even rivals yet, though they will probably run against each other for senate in massachusetts. on a radio show brown asked if markey even lived in massachusetts anymore, claiming he's never seen him on the plane leaving washington. markey's state residence is in his childhood home in massachusetts but his wife is a doctor in suburban washington, d.c. and mile-per-hour mus read today is really a must see. the white house photographer, pete souza, released his year in photos, including some really great shots of the president on his travels through the year. this is one where he dared someone to eat a piece of his pie and the kid does it. and here he's taking a dip in the ocean to celebrate new years in hawaii. you can find this at

facebook/jansingco. careful of sharks!

31 past the hour. welcome back. shortly after the new congress swears in at noon, republicans will decide whether a bruised and battered john boehner should get another two years as speaker. with no announced challenger, boehner is expected to be reselected, despite presiding over the least productive congress ever and the delayed vote on hurricane sandy. >> the fact that he came around so quickly and he's willing to work with us and get it on the calendar, i give him credit for that. john will be reelected speaker. john is really a voice of reason in our conference, despite some of the things i said yesterday. >> let's bring in nbc police call news analyst and former governor ed rendell.

and former deputy press secretary tony fratto. what was john boehner thinking? chris christie said he refused to return his phone calls, four phone calls. >> i think it was a mistake on the speaker's part to not schedule that vote. if there's one thing i learned working over the past 20 years is never fight over disaster assistance. i think it was really high tension getting through the fiscal cliff negotiations and trying to get that legislation passed and i think that's what i will chalk it up to, but i think the speaker is trying to correct it and he will and i think he's going to be re-elected today. >> the other thing the speaker says is i'm not going to talk to the president. given the fact that he became marginalized in the talks over the fiscal cliff, how does he stay relevant? >> well, he is relevant because

of the three things that are coming that you know very well, chris, the sequestration, the three-month day and the debt ceiling itself. we've got serious issues to take care of in the next two months. we haven't begun. what happened two days ago didn't begin to tackle entitlement reform, spend being cuts, revenue increase, defense cuts, all of those difficult issues. none of those things we're going to reach agreement on and increased revenue, we're not going to reach agreement on without the house of representatives and without john boehner's help. not to alibi for john boehner because the worst thing he did on the sandy vote was lack of communication, he should have spoken to governor christie, he should have spoken to all the other representatives. he may not have wanted to put it up for a vote because the majority of republicans might have been so angry at the lack of spending cuts, they might have voted against it and it would have been another horrible black eye for the republican party. but boehner should have gone to

people and said right now with the mood of the caucus, i don't want to bring this up for a vote, we'll do it when things settle down in a few days. >> the vote for speaker is scheduled to begin just before 1:00 this afternoon. let me play for you guys what eric eriksson said about john boehner. >> i would love for someone to replace him but who? i would rather him than eric cantor between them. i don't trust cantor as far as i can throw him. >> is that the prevailing sentiment out there? >> no, i think there's a lot of respect for john boehner and his caucus. it's a develvery difficult caul us lead, especially the way john is doing it today, a lot more open communication with his caucus. it's a less forceful speakership than we've seen from some speakerships in the past but john boehner having come through the ranks sees that as a virtue and i think over time the caucus will respect that. he's going to lose some members

here and there, they're going to have some battles but i think there's great respect for him to try to lead all of the disparate factions in the republican party in the house right now and he has done that and he's getting the respect of people like peter king. >> going forward, and you mentioned these three big things, not to mention gun control and immigration that will be on the agenda, there's a suggestion certainly by some democrats that now speaker boehner is going to be more marginalized. the reason is they believe they have a path by going first to the senate, which is not the tradition, go to the senate, get them to pass bills first and then you put the pressure on the thousands vote. do you see that happening or is it just wishful thinking because this particular vote worked that way? >> wishful thinking. john boehner can always fall back on the rule, the rule that i'm not going to put anything up for a vote unless the majority of the caucus is for it. he's got that arrow in his

quiver. we're going to have to compromise on fiscal issues and the issues you're talk about. one thing about john boehner, he keeps his eye on the prize. he knows for example, if gun control comes up and it's closing the loophole and getting rid of the large capacity magazine, in philadelphia there are three suburban republicans, somewhat moderate conservatives. they vote against those gun control measures, they're toast. they're toast. so there are certain things that john boehner has to do but he's got tremendous leverage as long as he applies the hastert rule. >> the conventional wisdom is if you thought the fiscal cliff battle was bad, you are ain't something nothing yet. but is there a level of fatigue, of discontent that members are hearing from their constituents? could the infusion of new blood make a difference? do you see any way in which any of these big fights is any easier than the one we just saw? >> i'm not as optimistic about

that. i don't know if governor rendell is really optimistic right now as well. i feel like we really missed a chance to do something with the fiscal cliff, where a lot of incentives were aligned. i think we have structural problems in the ability to handle these really big issues, the big fiscal issues of tax and spending. >> how do you have fix the structural problem? >> we need to find a way to force congress to do a really basic thing, to simply budget. the senate can't just walk off the budgeting field. we used to do this the old fashioned way where the house would pass a budget, the senate would pass a budget, they'd reconcile it and then you have a game plan to deal with these issues. one side decided they're not going to do that anymore and now we're going on the fourth year we're not going to have a budget. we have to find a way to cause pain for both the house and the senate to force them to do a budget because that is our game plan of governing. that's the way congress is supposed to work. governor rendell knows this.

when he was governor of pennsylvania, he had to work with both houses -- in fact, he had to work with a republican house and republican senate, right, governor? >> almost all eight years. it was delightful. >> well, see, you're smiling about it now. but what can be done, governor? >> tony's right in a way. in a way the ball is in the president's court and the president's got to lead and by leading i mean he's got to set out some specific guideline, he's got to sit down and whether it's through the vice president and begin these negotiations. don't wait for the last week. let's start when he gets back from hawaii. let's begin the process. he's got to lead, he's got to give a message to his party and our base that there are going to be sacrifices. we can't ask the other side to sacrifice unless we're going to sacrifice. that's the way you reach consensus. and he's got to do it in a way that preserve as mood cooperation. as you noted, chris, gun control, immigration, infrastructure, the carbon

problem. we've got so many big issues that if we continue to poison the atmosphere over the debt, we're never going to get anything done the next four years and we can't waste that time. america is facing serious challenges and we've got to get together as americans. >> governor ed rendell, tony fratto, good to see you. >> also families of the victims of the colorado movie theater shooting say they're outraged and insulted. they got an e-mail from the theater's owner because the building is scheduled to reopen on january 17th and that invitation was to what's being called a special evening of remembrance. one mother says cinemark never reached out to families after the shooting so she calls this offer disgusting. >> none of us are ever interested in stepping foot in that theater, that killing field ever again. and to assume that we would warm to that idea is really astonishing to me. >> the mayor says the reopening

is part of the community's healing process. cinemark has had no comment. >> five men in india were charged today with rape and murder in a case that sparked outrage and appropriatiprotests world. police say they will push for the death penalty. a sixth suspect is to be tried in juvenile court. they were charged with raping a 23-year-old woman last month. she died on saturday from her injuries. >> more americans will soon be able to watch al jazeera tv. they bought current tv from co-owner al gore. al jazeera won't be seen by everyone. >> looks like french actor gerard depardieu can bid adieu to france. he is angry on the attempt to raise taxes on the rich in

france to 75%. he said he would move to belgium. >> something is brewing at starbucks, $1 plastic cups. customers get a 10 cent discount when they bring it in for a refill. the new cups will be filled with boiling water each time the cups come in. it's their environmentally friendly attempt to keep the paper cups from ending up in land fills. and say it isn't so. wendy's is getting rid of its 99 cent value menu and offering a beefed up away of options called "right price, right size." items will range from 99 cents to $1.99. at a time when costs for meat, cheese and other ingredients are rising, it's becoming difficult for food chains to offer those

99 cent deals. mcdonald's and burger king have also moved away from their dollar menus. >> yesterday the dow soared more than 300 points on the fiscal cliff deal. right now the dow down 23 points, the s&p and nasdaq slightly in negative territory. we'll be right back. morning starts in high spirits, but there's a growing pain in his lower back. as lines grow longer, his pain continues to linger. but after a long day of helping others, he gets some helpful advice. just two aleve have the strength to keep back pain away all day. today, jason chose aleve. just two pills for all day pain relief. try aleve d for strong, all day long sinus and headache relief.

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so call now to request a free decision guide and learn more. after all, when you're going the distance, it's nice to have the experience and commitment to go along with you. keep dreaming. keep doing. go long. house minority leader nancy pelosi is meeting with the democratic women of the house right now, take a look, joining them for a photo-op on the house's east steps as the 113th congress prepares to convene a little more than an hour from now. of course electeds all have their unique backgrounds. a new article in "marie claire" magazine has an article on how beauty contestants are running for office. why do you think? why now? >> i think what you're seeing is that this overambitious, go get 'em 20 somethings who have no

institutional memory of the pageant and its controversial history are saying this is a perfect way to get a trial run for politics. think about it. the route to becoming a pageant queen is very similar to becoming a local politician, a lot of glad handing, local vants, schmoozing and net working. it's a great way to hone those hills. >> quote, miss america has rather discretely and with little fanfare been recast as a quasi boot camp for would-be politician, sharpening core skills like blad handing, networking. name recognition, even that secured on the circuit, opens doors historically closed to young women. i guess any kind of stigma they might think is associated with it hasn't proved true because some of these women are winning. >> yes, of course we all know

what the stigma is. for young 20 something women, it's a complete whitewash. they don't have the memory of the vanessa williams year. they don't even know that for example the pageant was segregated for a good chunk of its history. it's hard to make a case this is demeaning to women the pageant offers scholarships, requires a policy kind of platform. in some ways it's the smartest pageant there is. >> there are a number of contestants in this year's pageant have made it clear they want politics. tell us about some of these contestant. >> miss alabama, anna laura brian, she's a young woman who has already had some public policy experience. she worked on legislation in who are home state to pass an initiative that helps special needs kids bring -- like service dogs into their schools. it was illegal beforehand. and also ellen rose, miss d.c., has made it very clear that she would like the crown to use to

become governor of maryland, where she's originally from. and normally historically that kind of ambition would cue an eye role, it would be the equivalent of saying i'd like to cure world hunger. but it's hard not to take these young women seriously. they take themselves seriously. >> the networking is incredible. these women, these state contest winners, are on the road all the time. they have really heavy schedules. i don't know if it's true in every state pageant but when you become miss america, that's your full-time job. so i'm wondering if they also aren't making connections with some of the people on the board because there are also some political heavy hitters. >> the miss america pageant board is stocked with some people with very deep political connections. sue loudon, the former miss new jersey, used to run the nevada gop. kimberly fritz worked for jeb bush for many years. tammy hadad, a former msnbc exec who handled the political

coverage -- >> i had no idea tammy was on the board of miss america. >> it's a very good way to get connected. >> and we all thought the pageant was dead. >> far from it. >> well, honey boo boo, thank you so much. but it does seem that since this little girl and you and i were talking about it, i can't say i've ever seen an episode -- oh, here comes honey boo boo. and that's her mom. i've never seen this show. but it's kind of made pageants kind of must-see tv again. >> pageants are having a moment. >> having a moment. >> before you roll your eyes at honey boo boo, think for a second how much worse honey boo boo might be than the current congress we've got. >> that might be the -- most scathing indictment i've heard. do we think honey boo boo could be president one day or at least in congress?

fascinating article. thank you so much. >> and troy walker writes good-bye 112th congress, don't let the door hit you on the way out. do your job 113. but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

xx survivors of the newtown shooting tragedy are back in school for the first time since the tragedy. elementary students were welcomed back to a new school in monroe. they've done everything they can to ease this transition, haven't they? >> they have indeed. they have tried to bring the children's belongings that were left behind on that tragic day into this new school, which is about seven miles from their old school. we even have some pictures of this morning of the children, some of those children on the newtown school busses that were being transported here to this neighboring school. it was a middle school once upon a time but they have refurbished it, even changing the height of

the sinks so that they are lower for these elementary school children because, again, it had been a middle school. and everything they can do to make these children comfortable, but it's an anxious time, as you can manniimagine, for the paren teachers, as well as the children. but the security is here, the police are assuring them that they will keep them safe and they want them to get back to a normal routine, which is why we are about three miles from the new school because it wouldn't be normal if we were standing in front of the place. so they had us come to this location so the children don't see the presence of us but see the presence of familiar faces and teachers and even their parents are being allowed to be in the classrooms with them today to give those children a little more comfort. >> and i heard a report that the local police were saving it's publicly -- the most secure, the safest school in america right now. do you know anything about how they're trying to downplay them as well?

obviously it would be upsetting to the kids to have visible signs of security or maybe they think that would be comforting to them. have they given any details to them? >> they have a police presence. their sense is they do want the children to have a sense that they are being protected. authorities said yesterday they've checked everything in the school from the locks to the fire alarms, the windows, the fire escapes, everything has been checked. so, again, it's all about doing everything they can to make these kids as comfortable as possible. >>ellis in monroe, thank you very much. it's wonderful to see the signs from the community to welcome them back. we wish them well and peace and maurm any. -- harmony. that's all for jansing-and-company. what's up in the next hour? >> just over one hour in the

convening of the next congress. will john boehner hold on to his gav gavel? he face as potential historical fight for his speakership. and also hillary clinton returns home after being treated for the blood clot. what does it all mean for 2016? [ roasting firewood ] ♪ many hot dogs are within you. try pepto-bismol to-go, it's the power of pepto, but it fits in your pocket. now tell the world daniel... of pepto-bismol to-go.